Sri Lanka sees surge of visitors from China

Dec 28, 2012 (LBO) – Chinese visitors to Sri Lanka has surged 164 percent to 3,353 in November 2012 with total visitors in the first 12 months up 46 percent to 22,176 data from the tourist promotion office shows. China is the top source of visitors for many fast growing East Asian countries.

In Vietnam 1.2 million out of 6.0 million visitors up to November 2012 were Chineses.

It is not clear how many are ‘tourists’ per se, no breakdown available for business visitors at this stage. Many workers from China are in Chinese funded state projects in the country.

Earlier this month police arrested more than a 100 Chinese in a single sweep, who were apparently engaged in an organized internet based scam targeting victims in their home country.

Sri Lanka’s tourist promotion agency has been pushing for Chinese visitors with growing affluence in the country following nearly five years of steady currency appreciation.

In neighboring Maldives, Chinese arrivals have been a lifeline to the tourism industry which has been hit by declining arrivals from Europe.

Chinese visitors to the Maldives rose 14.9 percent to 213,868 in the 11 months to November 2012 from a year earlier.

Chinese arriv

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